United States v. Blinkinsop
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
606 F.3d 1110 (2010)
- Written by Liz Nakamura, JD
Facts
Paul Blinkinsop (plaintiff) was found in possession of over 600 images of child pornography that he had downloaded from the internet. The federal government (defendant) charged Blinkinsop with possessing and receiving child pornography. To avoid the possession charge, Blinkinsop pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography. The district court, in cooperation with the probation office, sentenced Blinkinsop to 97 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release during which Blinkinsop would be prohibited from accessing the internet, going to places frequented by children, or owning a camera phone. During the sentencing hearing, the district court explained that, under the federal sentencing guidelines, the guidelines range for Blinkinsop’s offense was 97 to 121 months in prison followed by a supervised release term of five years to life. The court explained that the guidelines were advisory and that the sentence imposed was the minimum guidelines sentence. The court also explained the special conditions of Blinkinsop’s supervised release in detail. Blinkinsop did not object to the sentence at the sentencing hearing. However, Blinkinsop later appealed the sentence, arguing that (1) the imprisonment term was unreasonable; (2) the special conditions were overly broad and unduly restrictive.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Goodwin, J.)
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